Larry Woolf started in the gaming business in 1967 as a table game dealer with Harrah’s Hotel/Casino in Reno, Nevada, and quickly progressed through the chain of command before being promoted to Casino Manager in 1974, a position he held for four years. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest casino manager in the company’s history.

In 1979, Mr. Woolf joined Caesars Atlantic City and was directly responsible for the pre-opening planning, hiring and training of the casino division staff. Not long after opening, he was appointed Senior Vice-President of Operations and was given the added responsibilities of the Hotel and Food and Beverage Divisions. His duties included interacting with the state legislature and various regulatory agencies on a regular basis to define and clarify the numerous issues in this new gaming jurisdiction. Mr. Woolf also took on the task of setting up a world-wide marketing organization. Within one year he had established operating offices in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Mexico City and Hong Kong as well as identifying and placing over 20 agents worldwide.

In 1984, Mr. Woolf was appointed President of Caesars in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This property had lost money every year since its opening, and $17 million in the year before he took the position. He re-engineered the operations of the property in every area that was under performing. After his first 12 months in Lake Tahoe, Caesars posted a $4 million net profit, a stunning turnaround from the property’s prior history.

In 1990, Mr. Woolf joined the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino as Chairman and CEO. It took more than three years and a billion+ dollars to design, build and staff this 5,000+ room hotel and casino. In its first year of operation, the property generated $743 million in gross revenues resulting in $180 million in cash flow.

While operating this billion-dollar enterprise, Woolf contracted such entertainers as Barbra Streisand, Mike Tyson and the Rolling Stones, just to name a select few.

Seeing a need for a smaller, more responsive gaming company in a sector often wrought with growing pains, Mr. Woolf established the Navegante Group. Mr. Woolf not only won the bid to develop and operate Casino Niagara, but has gone on to make Casino Niagara one of the most successful casinos in the world today.

Capitalizing on this success, Mr. Woolf proceeded to secure an ownership interest in and the management of five charity casinos to be developed in key locations in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Most recently, Mr. Woolf secured approval-in-principal to design, construct and manage three destination casino facilities in the Province of British Columbia.

Mr. Woolf believes that knowing talented people throughout the operational chain of command and creative people in the development and financial sectors provides for a competitive advantage. As a result he has one of the most extensive networks in the industry which has allowed him to assemble quality pre-opening teams with extraordinary speed and staff projects with the most qualified operations personnel.

This entire process is managed in such a way as to meet the specific requirements and schedule for each project regardless of size or scope.

Publications, Articles and Other Media
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Macau Casino Operator Selection
Comp Guru
PlaySys Announcement
Casino Niagara 12-09-96
Clark Field
World Wide Gaming Expansion

 

Email: Larry J